2025 Panel Schedule

Join us at 9:00 am on the south steps of the State Capitol Building as we honor literary legend Greg Iles.

Speakers will include reporter/author Jerry Mitchell, Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson, and Former Mississippi Book Festival Executive Director Holly Lange.

Presented by Candace L. & John F. Kime; Forman Watkins & Krutz LLP

Historians capture the individual courage and command decisions that reshaped the world and helped forged an Allied victory – from Churchill’s strategic gatherings to Eisenhower’s crucial choices to D-Day’s veterans’ firsthand accounts.

• William Kelleher Storey (Moderator) – The Colonialist: The Vision of Cecil Rhodes
• Katherine Carter – Churchill's Citadel: Chartwell and the Gatherings Before the Storm
• Michel Paradis – The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower
• Garrett M. Graff – When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day

Coverage provided by C-SPAN

Room by BarbourHurst

Presented by Simmons Farm Raised Catfish; H. T. White Family Fund

From music-themed soul food and masterful chocolate creations to accessible comfort cooking, cookbook authors share recipes seasoned with personality and story.

• Enrika Williams (Moderator)
• Swamp Dogg – If You Can Kill It I Can Cook It
• Phillip Ashley Rix – For the Love of Chocolate: 80 At-Home Recipes from a Master Chocolatier's Imagination
• Matthew Bounds – Keep It Simple, Y'all: Easy Dinners from Your Barefoot Neighbor

Presented by Bob Montgomery

Jacktown USA co-author Joe Lee and the musicians he chronicles share firsthand accounts of the work it takes to establish Jackson as one of America's true musical capitals.

• Joe Lee (Moderator) – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music
• Dexter Allen – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music
• Ra'Shad "The Blues Kid" McGill – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music
• Chad Wesley – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music
• Carmen Washington – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music
• Benjamin Wright – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music
• Brian Johnson – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music

Presented by Brenna Weaver, LPC; Charles Brasfield Grant IV

Jerid P. Woods joins MacArthur Fellow Hanif Abdurraqib in conversation about Abdurraqib's distinctive blend of memoir, cultural criticism, and lyrical prose, including his latest exploration of basketball as a pathway to understanding identity, community, and the American experience.

• Jerid P. Woods (Moderator)
• Hanif Abdurraqib – There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension

Presented by Emmett Till Interpretive Center

Join the Emmett Till Interpretive Center and Monument Lab for the Mississippi-launch of Bulletin. Edited by Monument Lab Senior Curator Yolanda Wisher in partnership with the Emmett Till Interpretive Center’s Daphne R. Chamberlain and Patrick Weems, the second issue of Bulletin, Monument Lab’s print journal, delves into the theme of “Reverence.” The issue’s release coincides with the 70th anniversary of Emmett Till’s lynching and Mamie Till-Mobley’s courageous acts of bearing witness in publicly mourning her son that spurred the Civil Rights Movement. As Till and Till-Mobley’s lives are enshrined in emergent monuments across the country, Bulletin captures the long-in-the-making moment of becoming and reflection. While tracing a lineage of struggle and activism for equal rights in the Mississippi Delta and beyond, the publication explores reverence as an act of beholding and belonging. Wisher, Weems, along with several special guests from Bulletin, will share insights behind the publication and reflections on commemoration.

• Yolanda Wisher (moderator)
• Patrick Weems 
• C. Liegh McInnis 
• Gloria Carter Dickerson 
• W. Ralph Eubanks – A Place Like Mississippi: A Journey Through Real and Imagined Literary Landscape

Join author Allen R. Wells and illustrator DeAndra Hodge for a special read-aloud of Yvonne Clark and Her Engineering Spark, then blast off into creativity with a hands-on Moon Spark Box Workshop! Participants will design and decorate their own keepsake boxes, fill them with “moon rocks,” and add their personal spark, just like Yvonne discovered hers in engineering.

• Allen R. Wells (Workshop Leader/Author) - Yvonne Clark and Her Engineering Spark 
• DeAndra Hodge (Workshop Leader/Illustrator) - Yvonne Clark and Her Engineering Spark 

Presented by Jordan & Jim Perry; The McMullan/O'Connor Fund

University of Southern Mississippi's de Grummond Children's Literature Collection curator Karlie Herndon is in conversation with Caldecott Honor winner and #1 New York Times bestselling author Peter Brown. In his newest work, The Wild Robot on the Island, he brings his beloved robot character Roz to life through stunning artwork, introducing younger readers to themes of belonging, adaptation, and finding home in unexpected places.

• Karlie Herndon (Moderator)
• Peter Brown – The Wild Robot on the Island

Live-stream available September 13 at msbookfestival.com

Presented by Watkins & Eager, PLLC; Mississippi State University Department of English; Peyton Prospere

Three authors chronicle Mississippi's baseball legacy—from legendary figures like Dudy Noble to historic team achievements and unforgettable stories from the state's diamond dominance.

• Rick Cleveland (Moderator) – The Mississippi Football Book
• Steve Robertson – The Dude: The Life and Times of Dudy Noble
• Jeff Roberson – Stories from Ole Miss Baseball
• James R. Crockett – When Mississippi Schooled America in Baseball

Presented by Crooks Foundation

From Galápagos communes to psychedelic compounds, these authors expose how utopian promises can run cover for treachery and violence, revealing the human corruption that twists paradise into ruin.

• Valerie Walley (Moderator)
• Abbott Kahler – Eden Undone: A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II
• Susannah Cahalan – The Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life and Counterculture Rebellion of Rosemary Woodruff Leary

Presented by University of Mississippi Department of English; Friends of Sandra West

Contributors to an ecopoetry anthology discuss how contemporary poets wrestle with environmental crisis while finding language for hope, resilience, and our essential connection to the natural world.

• Ann Fisher-Wirth (Moderator) – Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology
• Beth Ann Fennelly – Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology
• Aimee Nezhukumatathil – Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology
• Melissa Ginsburg – Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology
• Kendall Dunkelberg – Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology

Presented by University of Southern Mississippi de Grummond Children's Literature Collection; Dr. Tonja Murphy

Middle grade authors explore how young people discover their strength and find their place when faced with new communities, family challenges, and the weight of others' expectations.

• Julian Randall (Moderator) – The Chainbreakers
• Angie Thomas – Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Book of Anansi
• Tiffany D. Jackson – Blood in the Water
• Craig Kofi Farmer – A Method for Magic and Misfortune

Presented by Jackie Posey Bailey; Sara & Bill Ray

Picture book creators highlight how children learn and grow through hands-on experiences, discovering that the joy is in the doing, not just the achieving.

• Kayla Thompson (Moderator)
• Allen R. Wells – Yvonne Clark and Her Engineering Spark
• Robyn Wall – I Worked Hard on That!
• Pamela Courtney – A Season for Fishin': A Fish Fry Tradition
• Maika Llaneza – The Gobbling Goblins

Presented by Frontier Strategies; Push Digital

Behind-the-scenes reporting reveals how pivotal moments reshape American politics, from a near-miss assassination attempt to the campaign decisions that determined the 2024 presidential race.

• David M. Drucker (Moderator) – In Trump's Shadow: The Battle for 2024 and the Future of the GOP
• Salena Zito – Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland
• Jonathan Allen – Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House

Presented by Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration

National Endowment for the Arts fellowship recipient Steve Almond guides writers through his acclaimed approach to authentic storytelling. Drawing from three decades of teaching experience, participants explore how obsessions fuel compelling narratives without descending into self-indulgence.

• Steve Almond (Workshop Leader) Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow: A DIY Manual for Constructing Stories

Presented by Gregg Harper

Former Miss Mississippi and Mississippi Author of the Year Sherye S. Green shares her journey from pageant winner to award-winning writer, exploring themes of faith, resilience, and storytelling.

• Doug Gunn (Moderator)
• Sherye S. Green – Mission Vigilant: A Mother’s Crusade to Stem the Tide of Veteran Suicide

  
  

Presented by Millsaps College; H. F. McCarty, Jr. Family Foundation

Native Mississippian and lifelong changemaker, Von Gordon moderates a conversation between New York Times bestselling author Wright Thompson and W. K. Kellogg Foundation President and CEO La June Montgomery Tabron about America's reckoning with racial violence, the path toward healing, and what it takes to build equitable communities from historical wounds.

• Vondaris Gordon (Moderator)
• Wright Thompson – The Barn: The Secret History of Murder in Mississippi
• La June Montgomery Tabron – How We Heal: A Journey Toward Truth, Racial Healing, Community Transformation from the Inside Out / Our Differences Make Us Stronger: How We Heal Together

Live-stream available September 13 at msbookfestival.com

Presented by Jones Walker LLP; Mississippi State University Libraries

Contemporary Southern storytellers weave tales of characters fighting to define themselves against the weight of inherited systems that seek to constrain them.

• Joseph Earl Thomas (Moderator) – God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer: A Novel
• Addie E. Citchens – Dominion: A Novel
• Rickey Fayne – The Devil Three Times: A Novel
• Lucas Schaefer – The Slip: A Novel
• Michael Farris Smith – Lay Your Armor Down: A Novel

Presented by Anonymous in Honor of Darden North; Friends of the Library at the University of Mississippi

Mississippi authors prove that authentic regional storytelling transcends boundaries, knitting historical truth with contemporary insight to preserve the state's complex narrative legacy.

• Anthony Thaxton (Moderator) – Eudora
• Darden North – Rooftop
• Vincent Venturini – Blackened Chimneys Stand Monument to Yankee Glory: Arabelle Daniel’s Memoir of Jackson, 1863

Presented by The Source by BankPlus; University of Southern Mississippi Center for Writers

Through intimate verse, these poets give voice to life's most challenging moments, transforming personal struggles into universal truths about resilience and connection.

• Kelly Norman Ellis (Moderator)
• Olivia Clare Friedman – An Arm Fixed to a Wing: Poems
• Nadia Alexis – Beyond the Watershed: Poems
• Keetje Kuipers – Lonely Women Make Good Lovers: Poems

Presented by Horne LLP; Mississippi Today

Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, Mississippi leaders who guided the state through catastrophe and recovery, sharing hard-won insights on crisis leadership, community resilience, and the long path to rebuilding.

• Ricky Mathews (Moderator)
• Governor Haley Barbour – America's Great Storm: Leading Through Hurricane Katrina
• Jim Barksdale 
• Dr. Mark Everett Keenum 
• Speaker Pro Tempore Manly Barton 

Coverage provided by C-SPAN

Room by BarbourHurst

Presented by Jane Hiatt / Hiatt Fund of Community Foundation for Mississippi

Get ready to giggle, imagine, and play with words in this poetry workshop! Join three poets who know that kids are super smart, funny, and curious, and they write poems that prove it. Together, we’ll read poems that capture the magic of everyday life, and then you’ll get a chance to create your own poem where anything goes: a beginning, a middle, or even just a moment that makes you laugh or wonder. By the end, you’ll see that poems can be true, serious, funny, or all three at once—and most importantly, they can be all yours!

• Diane Stevenson (Workshop Leader)
• Geri Lipschultz (Workshop Leader)
• James Berger (Workshop Leader)

Presented by Mississippi Humanities Council; Carla & Randy Wall

Memoirists navigate mental health through literature, celebrate quiet lives, trace maternal lineages, search for family ghosts, and honor Indigenous traditions—each finding redemption in telling truth.

• Stuart Rockoff (Moderator)
• Annie B. Jones – Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put
• Julian Randall – The Dead Don't Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi, and Black TV Nerd Shit
• Chyana Marie Sage – Soft As Bones: A Memoir

Presented by Louisa Dixon & Jerry Johnson; Wilma Wagner Cleveland

Through the lens of troubled families, these novelists discuss the paradox of needing the very people who can hurt us most.

• Henry Wise (Moderator) – Holy City: A Novel
• Lee Cole – Fulfillment: A Novel
• Patrick Ryan – Buckeye: A Novel
• Adam Ross – Playworld: A Novel
• Chad Holley – Shield the Joyous: A Novel

Presented by Crooks Foundation; University of Southern Mississippi Dale Center for the Study of War & Society

The Manhattan Project unfolds through two lenses: the voices of scientists, researchers, and survivors who lived it, and the biography of the man who orchestrated it all.

• Andrew O. Pace (Moderator)
• Garrett M. Graff – The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb
• Kai Bird – American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

Live-stream available September 13 at msbookfestival.com

This playwriting workshop with bestselling author and 2024-2025 Dramatists Guild Foundation National Fellow Beth Kander will include an introduction covering some basic playwriting insights (such as the hallmarks of writing for the stage as opposed to for the screen or page), and will include hands-on writing time with prompts designed to inspire new playwriting projects or strengthen existing scripts. Writers of all levels are welcomed; no background in playwriting is necessary, and even seasoned playwrights can enjoy the prompts and takeaways.

• Beth Kander (Workshop Leader) - I Made it Out Of Clay: A Novel

Presented by University of Southern Mississippi de Grummond Children's Literature Collection; Ezra Jack Keats Foundation; Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival

Celebrating a multitude of voices and universal childhood experiences, these 2025 Ezra Jack Keats Award-winners and honorees showcase stories that allow every child to see themselves reflected in literature.

• Ellen Hunter Ruffin (Moderator)
• Bo Lu – Bao's Doll
• Breanna J. McDaniel – Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller
• Carlos Matias – Emergency Quarters
• Kara Kramer – Ernő Rubik and His Magic Cube
• Antwan Eady – The Last Stand

The search for authentic divine connection leads beyond traditional church walls as these authors share how faith transforms when freed from institutional constraints.

• Ryan Parker (Moderator)
• Tony Jones – The God of Wild Places: Rediscovering the Divine in the Untamed Outdoors
• Kat Armas – Sacred Belonging: A 40-Day Devotional on the Liberating Heart of Scripture

Presented by Mississippi Department of Archives & History; University of Southern Mississippi Center for the Study of the Gulf South

From family legacies spanning three generations to the cultural significance of the color blue to military service and the struggle for justice, these authors honor the rich complexity and lasting strength of the African American experience.

• Jasmine L. Holmes (Moderator) – Yonder Come Day: Exploring the Collective Witness of the Formerly Enslaved
• Omo Moses – The White Peril: A Family Memoir
• Imani Perry – Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People
• Douglas Bristol – Building Bridges: Black GIs, Military Labor, and the Fight for Equality in World War II
• MacArthur Cotton – Mississippi's Black Cotton

Coverage provided by C-SPAN

Room by BarbourHurst

Presented by Rebecca & Ty Hardy; Ellen & Greg Daniels

New York Times bestselling author Steve Almond teams up with former Mississippi Poet Laureate Beth Ann Fennelly to explore the power of brevity. Through flash fiction and micro-memoir techniques, writers discover how compression intensifies emotional impact and sharpens narrative focus.

• Steve Almond (Workshop Leader) – Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow: A DIY Manual for Constructing Stories
• Beth Ann Fennelly (Workshop Leader) – Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs

Presented by Eudora Welty Foundation

Award-winning novelist Michael Farris Smith is in conversation with John T. Edge, Emmy Award-winning host of TrueSouth. In his memoir House of Smoke, the former director of Southern Foodways Alliance details his journey of confronting a complicated family legacy and seeking authentic belonging in a region both beautiful and deeply flawed.

• Michael Farris Smith (Moderator) – Lay Your Armor Down: A Novel
• John T. Edge – House of Smoke: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home

Presented by Cadence Bank

Prose and Possibility isn’t your average writing workshop—it’s where imagination runs wild, rules are meant to be bent, and every teen writer learns just how powerful their words can be. Whether you’re crafting epic adventures or dialogue so sharp it could slice through silence, this is your space to experiment, take risks, and bring your stories to life. You’ll learn tips and techniques, but more importantly, you’ll begin to discover your voice, own it, and use it to shape worlds of your own making. This is a 1.5 hour workshop, ending at 2:00 pm.

• Dr. Tonja Murphy (Workshop Leader)

Presented by Bethany & Lucien Smith; Fischer Galleries

These binge-worthy works, edited by Knopf's Jenny Jackson, are contemporary novels that capture the absurdities of wealth, food culture, and second chances in modern America.

• Jenny Jackson (Moderator) – Pineapple Street: A Novel
• Marcy Dermansky – Hot Air: A Novel
• Adam Roberts – Food Person: A Novel
• Marie Rutkoski – Ordinary Love: A Novel

Presented by Capitol Resources, LLC

Two veteran political reporters share insights from their collaborative investigation into the 2024 election, drawing on hundreds of interviews to unpack how Trump staged his comeback and the Democrats lost their grip on power.

• Jonathan Martin (Moderator) – This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future
• Tyler Pager – 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America
• Josh Dawsey – 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America

Presented by University of Southern Mississippi Center for Writers

Take the road less traveled in this writing workshop led by graduate students from the University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Writers.

• Creative Writing Grad Students (Workshop Leaders)

Presented by Mississippi Humanities Council; Big House Books

Through reading and discussing literature, members of the 16 Mississippi Humanities Council prison book clubs build communities behind bars. Join us to hear about the community of readers on Mississippi’s Death Row and how the members at Wilkinson County Correctional Facility extend their community by meeting virtually with a veterans' book club. A prison chaplain, who is formerly incarcerated, will reflect on the humanizing impact of book clubs.

• Carla Falkner (Moderator)
• Alan Huffman – Mississippi in Africa: The Saga of the Slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation and Their Legacy in Liberia Today
• C. T. Salazar – Headless John the Baptist Hitchhiking: Poems
• Chaplain Reginald Watts

Presented by Pass Books & Cat Island Coffeehouse; Margaret Walker Center at JSU

Through their latest works, these friends and fellow authors share insights about childhood bonds, mutual care, and the connections that shape our lives.

• Traci Thomas (Moderator)
• Kiese Laymon – City Summer, Country Summer
• Jason Reynolds – Twenty-Four Seconds From Now… A Love Story

Live-stream available September 13 at msbookfestival.com

Presented by Carol & Todd Maibach; Sue Taylor

Novelists explore how past choices cast long shadows, forcing their characters to confront how yesterday's decisions shape today's deadly dilemmas.

• Tracy Carr (Moderator)
• Brendan Slocumb – The Dark Maestro: A Novel
• Clémence Michallon – Our Last Resort: A Novel
• Katherine Wood – Sunburned: A Novel

Presented by Nautilus Publishing; Chip Morgan

Mississippi's Nautilus Publishing presents memoirs and collected stories that document struggles for justice, decades of university traditions, and the origins of the state's literary power.

• David Crews (Moderator)
• Sandy Grisham – Badge Unbroken: The Robert Hall Story
• Robert Hall – Badge Unbroken: The Robert Hall Story
• Joshua Clark – The Most Powerful Word: Why Mississippi Has Produced More Acclaimed Literature Than Any Other Region in History
• Judy Long – The Most Powerful Word: Why Mississippi Has Produced More Acclaimed Literature Than Any Other Region in History
• Sparky Reardon – The Dean: Memoirs and Missives
• Hank Ewert – Let the Music Speak: Tracking the Music that Changed Everything, 1945-1950

Presented by University of Southern Mississippi College of Arts & Sciences; Argent Wealth

From revolution to resistance, these authors explore Iran's theocratic transformation during the 1979 Islamic Revolution and how the most recent struggle against the regime, the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement ignited when a woman died in police custody for hijab violations.

• J. A. Bernstein (Moderator) – Rachel’s Tomb: A Novel
• Scott Anderson – King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation
• Fatemeh Jamalpour – For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran's Women-Led Uprising

Coverage provided by C-SPAN

Room by BarbourHurst

Presented by Rebecca & Mark Wiggs

Jacktown USA co-author Kamel L. King and the musicians he chronicles share firsthand accounts of the work it takes to establish Jackson as one of America's true musical capitals.

• Kamel L. King (Moderator) – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music
• Zac Harmon – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music
• Eddie Cotton, Jr. – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music
• Arrianna Washington – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music
• Stevie J. Blues – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music
• Benjamin Wright – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music
• Juan Knott – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music

Presented by Janet & Luther Ott; Dixon Books

Within the complexity of broken places—wounded bodies, fractured families, divided communities—these memoirists trace journeys toward integration and healing, revealing how we reconstruct identity from fragments of trauma, love, and resilient hope.

• Ellen Ann Fentress (Moderator) – The Steps We Take: A Memoir of Southern Reckoning
• Catherine Simone Gray – Proud Flesh : A Memoir of Motherhood, Intimate Violence, and Reclaiming Pleasure
• Adam Gussow – My Family and I: A Mississippi Memoir
• Lauren Rhoades – Split the Baby: A Memoir in Pieces
• Victoria Bynum – Deep Root, Broken Branches: A History and Memoir

Presented by LGBTQ Fund of Mississippi; Beard + Riser Architects

Three writers explore queer life through history, fiction, and memoir—documenting state-sponsored persecution, navigating artistic ambition, and celebrating unconventional families that defy traditional expectations.

• Rep. Fabian Nelson (Moderator)
• Robert W. Fieseler – American Scare: Florida's Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives
• Kristen Arnett – Stop Me If You've Heard This One: A Novel
• Andy Corren – Dirtbag Queen: A Memoir of My Mother

Presented by Lesly Gaynor Murray in Memory of Stephen C. Edds; University of Mississippi Center for the Study of Southern Culture/Oxford Conference for the Book

Authors analyze Southern traditions through football's corrupt underbelly, Black country music's erased history, and a legendary songwriter's final years—each revealing truths beneath the region's mythology.

• John T. Edge (Moderator) – House of Smoke: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home
• Eli Cranor – Mississippi Blue 42: A Novel
• Alice Randall – My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music's Black Past, Present, and Future
• Tom Piazza – Living in the Present with John Prine

Presented by Millsaps College; The McMullan/O'Connor Fund

This fiction writing workshop is for new writers excited to get started and stuck writers looking for a jolt into new strategies for animating the scene with vibrant characters, insightful descriptions, and plot-propelling energy. Using the metaphor of the writer as architect, scenes become the building blocks that construct the stories we want to tell. Appropriate for all ages.

• Liz Egan (Workshop Leader)

Presented by Danny Cupit; Mississippi State University Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library; Ginnie & Luther Munford; Nancy & Cecil Brown

From Civil War battlefields to Reconstruction's political struggles, authors trace how pivotal figures like Boutwell, Grant, and Sherman shaped America's transformation, while Mississippi's post-war story demonstrates the deep divisions over the meaning of freedom.

• Anne E. Marshall (Moderator) – Cassius Marcellus Clay: The Life of an Antislavery Slaveholder and the Paradox of American Reform
• Jere Nash – Reconstruction in Mississippi, 1862-1877
• Jeffrey Boutwell – Boutwell: Radical Republican and Champion of Democracy
• Ryan P. Semmes – Exporting Reconstruction: Ulysses S. Grant and a New Empire of Liberty
• Louie P. Gallo – The Memoirs of General William Tecumseh Sherman: The Complete Annotated Edition

Coverage provided by C-SPAN

Room by BarbourHurst

Presented by University of Southern Mississippi College of Arts & Sciences; Capri Theatre

Jerid P. Woods joins lauded writer Honorée Fanonne Jeffers to discuss her latest creation exploring Black women's journeys through American history, family memory, and life's crossroads.

• Jerid P. Woods (Moderator)
• Honorée Fanonne Jeffers – Misbehaving at the Crossroads: Essays & Writings

Presented by Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP; Wise Carter Child & Caraway, P.A.

Authors discuss the complex ways their characters evade their deepest problems through relationships, fantasy, and emotional detours in these works of literary fiction.

• Sara Hildreth (Moderator)
• Beth Kander – I Made it Out of Clay: A Novel
• Jami Attenberg – A Reason to See You Again: A Novel
• Bret Anthony Johnston – We Burn Daylight: A Novel
• Nicky Gonzalez – Mayra: A Novel

Presented by Mississippi Department of Archives & History; University of Southern Mississippi Dale Center for the Study of War & Society

Spanning local politics to global warfare, these authors dissect Mississippi's enduring struggles with power, equality, and change, demonstrating how the state's persistent challenges echo across generations and continents.

• Steve Yarbrough (Moderator) – Stay Gone Days: A Novel
• Bill Crawford – A Republican's Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives
• Diane T. Feldman – Borrowed Land, Stolen Labor, and the Holy Spirit: The Struggle of Power and Equality in Holmes County, Mississippi
• Dr. Byron D'Andra Orey – Mississippi, Conflict, and Change: A New Edition
• Andrew Wiest – Dogwood: A National Guard Unit's War in Iraq

Presented by Eudora Welty Foundation; Historic Natchez Foundation

New York Times bestselling author Anton DiSclafani joins Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks for an in-depth conversation about Brooks's distinguished writing career, exploring her journey from war correspondent to acclaimed historical novelist and her gift for bringing forgotten voices and untold stories from the past to vivid life.

• Anton DiSclafani (Moderator) – After Party: A Novel
• Geraldine Brooks – Horse: A Novel

Live-stream available September 13 at msbookfestival.com

Presented by Elizabeth & Percy Quinn; Pigott Law Firm

Through post-war Paris, early American music culture, Tulsa's rebuilding, and Appalachian freedom communities, authors reveal how characters refuse to accept the world as it is and dare to imagine something better.

• Crystal Forte (Moderator)
• David Wright Faladé – The New Internationals: A Novel
• Paul Burch – Meridian Rising: A Novel
• Vanessa Miller – The Filling Station: A Novel
• Dolen Perkins-Valdez - Happy Land: A Novel

Presented by Balch & Bingham LLP; Mississippi Humanities Council; Mississippi Department of Archives & History; Cornerstone Consulting Group, Inc.

The work of Indigenous preservation spans legal victories, language revitalization, and cultural traditions as these voices share how Native communities build identity across generations of resilience.

• Dr. Tammy Greer (Moderator)
• Rebecca Nagle – By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land
• Chris La Tray – Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian's Journey Home
• Jay Wesley – Choctaw Traditions: Stories of the Life and Customs of the Mississippi Choctaw

Coverage provided by C-SPAN

Room by BarbourHurst

Presented by University of Southern Mississippi University Forum; Friends of the Community Foundation of Washington County

Through photography, cookbooks, and music, these works reveal complex archives within Southern cultural traditions—preserving authentic stories while exploring the depths of regional identity.

• Germaine Flood (Moderator)
• Melody Golding – Hometown Mississippi
• Carrie Helms Tippen – Unpalatable: Stories of Pain and Pleasure in Southern Cookbooks
• Kamel L. King – Jacktown USA: The Capital City of American Music

Presented by University of Southern Mississippi College of Arts & Sciences; Marie & Brian Sanderson

New York Times bestselling author Helen Ellis is in conversation with Landon Bryant, the Mississippi-born viral sensation whose @LandonTalks videos have captivated nearly 500,000 Instagram followers and earned coverage in The New York Times. In his debut book, the former art teacher turned social media star shares his witty anthropological observations on Southern culture, from "bless your heart" etiquette to the great pecan pronunciation debate with warmth and humor.

• Helen Ellis (Moderator) – Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge: Intimate Confessions from a Happy Marriage
• Landon Bryant – Bless Your Heart: A Field Guide to All Things Southern

Presented by Hon. David Neil McCarty; The Tell Agency

These four authors craft stories of women forging their own definitions of success in an unforgiving world.

• Cree Myles (Moderator)
• Angela Flournoy – The Wilderness: A Novel
• Leila Mottley – The Girls Who Grew Big: A Novel
• Natalie Guerrero – My Train Leaves at Three: A Novel
• Jemimah Wei – The Original Daughter: A Novel

Presented by Margaret Walker Center; Jackson State University Division of Academic Affairs

Dr. Ebony Lumumba engages in conversation with Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon, the visionary founder of The Village Market who has facilitated millions in sales for Black-owned businesses and serves on Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens' Women's Advisory Council. The Forbes 50 Champions honoree dismantles the myth of individualism, revealing how her "Support is a Verb" philosophy transforms entrepreneurial dreams into sustainable community wealth.

• Dr. Ebony Lumumba (Moderator)
• Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon – No One Is Self-Made: Build Your Village to Flourish in Business and Life

Presented by Communication Arts Company

National Endowment for the Arts grant winner Steve Almond tackles the delicate art of mining personal relationships for literary material. Participants learn to balance honesty with empathy while preserving the connections that inspire their work.

• Steve Almond (Workshop Leader) – Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow: A DIY Manual for Constructing Stories

Presented by Julie & Brad Chism

Three short story writers discuss how their characters navigate moments of profound disruption, exploring the ways people endure and seek connection when circumstances overwhelm them.

• Jeff Barry (Moderator) – Go To Hell Ole Miss
• Robert Busby – Bodock: Stories
• Erika Krouse – Save Me, Stranger: Stories
• Max Hipp – What Doesn't Kill You Opens Your Heart: Stories